The Caretaker by Harold Pinter Essay -- Caretaker Harold Pinter Essays

The Caretaker by Harold Pinter In this essay I will take the position that the audience see Davies as both a social victim and a social parasite. Firstly a definition of a social victim and a social parasite will be given. A social victim is an individual who is looked down upon by other members of society, vulnerable to blame and not accorded the same rights as others. Therefore this disenfranchised group of people do not experience the usual comforts and perks of society. A social parasite is someone who exists off the backs of others efforts and not their own. Davies is a social victim because of his low social standing as a vagrant. He is definitely at the bottom of the social hierarchy; perhaps he is there because others have trodden on him to climb higher themselves .It is not explained how, but what we do know is that because Davies is a social victim, to survive he also becomes a social parasite. Throughout the play Davies shows some strong traits to the audience of being a social victim. The audience's very first impression of Davies is that his appearance is one of a vagrant, "Davies wears a worn brown overcoat, shapeless trousers, a waistcoat, vest, no shirt, and sandals." This description shows Davies either does not take a large amount of care in his appearance, or he cannot afford smart, tidy clothes. This makes the audience feel sorry for him. The audience recognises that his anti-social appearance sets Davies apart from the rest of society. The waistcoat Davies is wearing gives the impression that he was once a respected gentleman. However, the worn and shapeless clothes he is also wearing in contrast with the waistcoat make him look unkempt and scruffy. Davies likes to portray hi... ...aps he had the intention of stealing from Aston. He noticeably does not want Aston to see him looking around in this way; this is shown because Davies opens the door to see if Aston is gone, and then closes before looking around. It could be considered that Davies does this because he would not want Aston to think he is taking advantage of him. Davies is inquisitive. He picks up some random items of Aston's, comments on them, and puts them back. To the audience, Davies is so interested in Aston's things because he wants to see what Aston is worth. If Aston had little, there would be less point in staying, as there would nothing to gain from Davies' perspective. To conclude, there are many episodes within the first act that reflect both Davies' victimisation and his opportunism, thus enabling the audience to view him as social victim and social parasite.